Voiceless Characters (Dedicated to the loving memory of the Great and Talented, Joe Ranft (1960-2005)
Plot Summary When their voices disappear, Heimlich (A Bug's Life (1998)), Lenny (Toy Story 1 and 2 (1991-1992), Wheezy (Toy Story 2 (1992)), Jacques (Finding Nemo (2003)), Pete Claws Ward (Monsters Inc. (2001)) and Elmo St. Peters (The Brave Little Toaster (1987)) decide to invite a few Disney and Pixar characters for a memorial service for their voice acting friend, the great and talented, Joe Ranft, who passed away in a tragic car accident at the age of 45 back on Tuesday, August 16, 2005. Chapter 1: Heimlich becomes voiceless It was a silent afternoon on Ant Island, and Francis was juggling boysenberries, and Slim was tap dancing, but Heimlich was reciting his poetry right in front of Flik. "Alright, Heimlich, recite your poetry......" Flik said as Heimlich got himself prepared. "Okay, here it goes......." Heimlich said as he cleared his throat........" Roses are red, violets are blue, blueberries are sweet......and...........Heimlich began as his voice stopped suddenly, and he opened his mouth to respond to the others, but no words came outta his mouth. "Heimlich?" Flik asked, stepping frontward. "Heimlich, what's going on''?" His larynx couldn't have been damaged, could it? I mean, he's taken worse without any vocal damage, and he was reciting his poetry 1 minute ago.'' The panic was rapidly growing as Heimlich realized that no matter what he did, not 1 single word came outta his mouth. He had been rendered completely mute. "Oh dear, this happened to Slinky of the Toy Story gang, he told us about it when Blake Clark finally stepped in and he was able to tell us about it., why is it happening to me now? unless of course Joe is........oh dear." Flik took 1 step towards his best friend forever. "Heimlich?" "Heimlich!" Flik exlaimed in alarm scrambling to his side. "Heimlich, I'm terribly sorry, was it something I just said?" He gave the chase right after the running from 12 feet ahead of him in the forest. "Heimlich!" went down the home burrow........ Dude723's comment: "Oh my goodness gracious,, this is so depressing and terrifying, but let's find out what happened to Lenny, Wheezy and the others as well." Chapter 2: Lenny and Wheezy become voiceless Lenny and Wheezy were sitting around on Bonnie's bed and telling 1 another about their plans. "So, Wheezy, what game do you wanna play?" Lenny asked as Wheezy looked around Bonnie's bedroom. "Well, Lenny, how 'bout we play..............." Wheezy said as his voice also stopped suddenly as well, and he opened his beak to speak, but to no avail. "Oh my gosh, Wheezy, are you alright, you look like you've seen a.........." Lenny said as his voice also stopped suddenly as well too. "Lenny? Wheezy? are you guys alright?" Bo Peep asked as the other toy friends were wondering what just happened. "We better tell the others what just happened........" Dolly said as they all sat right down on Bonnie's bed. Dude723: "Oh dear, 1st Heimlich, and now Lenny and Wheezy, is Jacques next? I hope not." Chapter 3: Jacques becomes voiceless Meanwhile in Nemo's reef, Jacques was humming to himself, cleaning up a filthy mess, and he began rubbing his temples. "Zat is weird, it must be ze beginning of a headache." Jacques said while rubbing his temples as he continued humming a few bars to Bohemian Rhapsody 'til his voice stopped suddenly and eveybody else in the reef was terribly shocked over it. "Oh my goodness, Jacques, are you alright? say something!" Gil exclaimed in alarm as Jacques found out he could no longer speak. "Oh dear, this is not a good situation........" Dory said as she knew the entire thing too well. Dude723: "Alright, here's another 1 about Elmo St. Peters from The Brave Little Toaster (1987)........" Chapter 4: Elmo St. Peters becomes voiceless In his cabin, Elmo St. Peters was busy reading his newspaper, and laughing at some comic strips. "Now that's a comic strip anybody can remember." Elmo St. Peters said with a chuckle as he went over to get some cappuccino when he began feeling a bit weird inside. "Now where did I put that-" Elmo St. Peters said as his voice also stopped suddenly, and he tried to speak, but he couldn't. Dude723's Comment: 1st Heimlich, then Lenny, then Wheezy, then Jacques and now Elmo St. Peters. Well, here's the next chapter with the news flash, so just read and review from now on. Chapter 5: The important news flash Later that evening, all of the Disney and Pixar characters were all gathered around the Anderson's living room, but they were mostly worried about Heimlich losing his voice. "Heimlich! Heimlich, why’d you run off like that? What’s going on?" Flik inquired, stepping frontward, but suddenly being yanked back by Atta's right hand on his right shoulder. Heimlich didn't respond, and Flik seemed to be rooted to the spot. Atta shook her head. The brave young ant had taken 1 look at his best friend forever and had realized what must’ve happened. "Questions can come later, Flik." Atta whispered into the right side of Flik's face. "But Heimlich just…....." "Look, Flik, just keep silent, will you? I’ll explain it later." Atta frowned, but fell silent. "Lenny? Wheezy, speak to us!" Rex exclaimed in concern. "Oh my gosh, I already know this." Buttercup half-muttered, half-wailed. “This is just like Jim Varney all over again." With Lenny and Wheezy's voices gone forever, the Toy Story gang were 1ce again stuck in a terrible situation, but right now that was the least of their problems. "What’s going on with Heimlich?" "I wish there was something we could do about it." Dot said while hanging her head down in concern. "Now, 1st of all, I'm sure that you have all figured out what just happened. If you haven’t, please raise your hands or wings now and I'll explain it to you." Nobody moved. "Good. I just wanna tell you all, right now, that I'm terribly sorry for your loss and departure. It must’ve been a terrible shock to have to find out in such a manner, and I know that you must be in a lot of pain right now. Joe was so loved." Woody's voice caught slightly at that, and he cleared his throat. His depression could wait. "He was deeply loved, and he will be missed." Heimlich, Lenny, Wheezy, Jacques (in his glass water bowl) and Elmo St. Peters nodded their heads silently. "Now I’m sure you are all wondering what’s happening" Buzz said to them. All murmuring stopped. "Well, I’d say it, but I think that Alan Jacobson, the news reporter could say it a lot better than we could. Turn on the television screen, Slinky." Slinky did so, having taken the liberty of hooking the main sound system to the television screen. The screen flickered on, and the figure of Alan Jacobson, the news reporter, came into view. He was sitting at his desk, and a black armband was around his right arm. When he spoke, it did happen. "This is the Cartoon Crossover News flash, with a special news report, on this day, on August 16, 2005, Disney and Pixar animator, storyboard artist and voice actor, the great and talented, Joe Ranft has passed away in a tragic car accident, he was 45-years-old." Bo Peep gasped in shock........... "So that's what happened to Heimlich, Lenny, Wheezy, Jacques and Elmo St. Peters!" Bo Peep exclaimed in fear. "Yeah right......." Jessie said silently. "What you saw of the great and talented, Joe Ranft is what he was. Now, if you excuse me, I’m gonna go and be depressed for a little while." Alan bowed his head respectfully, and the news report flickered off, switching to a Taco Bell commercial. Woody flicked the screen off, and the crowd 1ce again began murmuring. "We're here for you, Wheezy, we're all here for you." Mr. Pricklepants said silently while nuzzling against Wheezy's right shoulder while he silently sank his head right against his chest and began crying and weeping silently without making 1 single sound. They didn’t know when he was gonna get his voice back, or if he ever would get a new voice actor, but at the minute that didn’t seem to matter. "Wheezy?" Rex said, his voice half an inquiry, half 1 whimper. He knew that somebody very important had passed away, but what did that have to do with her? What was going on? "Mr. Shark?" "So what do we do now?" Buttercup leaned over to ask Mr. Potato Head. "I mean, I really feel for Wheezy right now, but aren’t we kinda hooked for new voice cast members now?" "I already thought about that.” Mr. Potato Head said, leaning back. “Unfortunately, we were thinking about what game to play when Lenny and Wheezy were telling us, so we’ll just need to pause that 1 'til further notice. Mind you, I kinda doubt we’ll be going on in 3 days after this." Buttercup didn’t reply to this, but turned and looked down at his feet, lost in thought. "You didn’t really answer the question.” He finally said, somewhat annoyed. "What about the fun party games? I mean, I know Wheezy losing his voice shouldn’t affect his karaoke singing talents, should it?” "No, even though I might just give Wheezy a bit of time to figure things out for himself right before I ask him to do anything. A week or 2 maybe, give things 1 chance to sink in." Mr. Potato Head rubbed his temple. He was hoping they wouldn’t have had to go through this again anytime soon, seeing how he had recovered from it himself only a few months ago. "Alright, I get that, but what are we gonna do if we gotta have a lot of fun and excitement and Wheezy still hasn’t got his voice back, you know what I’m saying?” “Right now, I don't know. Mr. Pricklepants and I can handle some of it by ourselves, but…yeah, I’ve got nothing. We’ll cross that place when we get down to it.” "What's wrong with Wheezy?" Rex asked, butting in on the conversation. “His voice is gone, Rex." Mr. Potato Head said abruptly. "His voice…well, his voice passed away." "Pass away?" Rex’s eyes widened and he turned to where the little squeak toy penguin was sitting right in front of him. “No, Wheezy can't pass away! Not yet!” "He’s still alive, Rex," Charlie explained patiently. “He’s gonna be alive for a very long time, but the young man who gave him a voice is no longer. You follow that?” Rex stared at him, uncomprehending. "Look, Rex, it’s like this. Who do you work with?" "Woody and my gang!" "Yeah right, that’s true, but think about somebody much bigger." Rex thought for 1 minute, then grinned at them. " "Wallace Shawn!" "Shh, keep it down, will you?" Mrs. Potato Head said, glancing over at the memorial fliers on the living room wall. "Sorry 'bout that." Rex apologized. "Right, you know how it’s Wallace Shawn's job to give you a voice, right?" "Yeah, right!" “Well, the great and talented, Joe Ranft did the same thing for Heimlich, Lenny, Wheezy, Jacques and Elmo St. Peters. Alan Jacobson just said that he passed away today, so now Wheezy has nobody to give him a voice. Now, do you understand that?" Category:Fan Fiction Category:Dude723's Fan Stories Category:Cartoon Crossover Fan Stories Category:Voice Cast Members Memorial Tribute Fan Stories Category:Dude899's Fan Stories